CHÉRUBIN D'ORLÉANS (1613-1697; né François Lasseré). La dioptrique oculaire, ou la théorique, la positive, et la mechanique de l’oculaire dioptrique en toutes ses espèces. Paris: Thomas Jolly and Simon Benard, 1671 [1670]

Attractive first edition of the "the most exhaustive treatise on lens making in the 17th century," with hand-colored frontispiece and from the library of the famous architectural preservationist Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (DiLaura). The French Capuchin friar Chérubin d’Orleans was famous as a maker of optical devices, and this work is a comprehensive treatise on the topic, covering everything from lens-grinding to the operations of the eye. In it, among other innovations, he describes his invention of a rhombic pantograph apparatus which could be attached to a telescope and allow drawings of distant objects. It is depicted in one of several engraved plates of the surface of the moon, although these images are actually borrow from Hevelius--his device would not be able to work with a moving subject such as the moon). Many of his binoculars, binocular microscopes, and telescopes survive today. Krivatsy 2427; DiLaura, Bibliotheca Opticora 153. See also D.M. Albert et al., Source Book of Ophthalmology (1995), and Ewen Whitaker, Mapping and naming the moon (1999).

Folio (354 x 233). Engraved frontispiece with partial contemporary hand-coloring, 57 engraved plates, 6 of which double-page; engraved headpiece with arms of Colbert, and three engraved plates in text (a few gatherings toned including some plates). Contemporary Dutch vellum with blindstamped cartouches, green silk ties (one tie detached but present, split at foot of lower joint). Provenance: small illegible inscription at foot of title and monogram inscription dated 1802 on pastedown – Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, 1814-1879, renowned architect and historical preservationist (bookplate with Greek motto and EVL monogram).